A new COVID-19 subvariant has now been confirmed in multiple provinces in Canada. The Omicron offshoot is also rising rapidly south of the border, and scientists say it could soon be a dominant strain in the U.S. and other countries.

The LA singer’s voice remains an undeniably rich and powerful instrument.

Supply Chain and Omnichannel Commerce Solutions provider Manhattan Associates Inc., has reported revenue of $266.7 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024. GAAP diluted earnings per share for Q3 2024 was $1.03 compared to $0.79 in Q3 2023. Non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share for Q3 2024 was $1.35 compared to $1.05 in Q3 2023.

Bill Clinton certainly qualifies as a liberal icon. Yet in many respects, his record belies the liberal tag.

Stellantis, the automobile conglomerate that owns Jeep, formed recently from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, defended its use of the Cherokee name claiming "our vehicle names have been carefully chosen and nurtured over the years to honor and celebrate Native American people for their nobility, prowess and pride."  This argument echoes the same arguments used for decades by Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Football Team (formerly the Redskins) and the owners of the Cleveland Indians (who have also recently agreed to change the team name after phasing out the offensive Chief Wahoo logo a few years ago).  For Stellantis, the Grand Cherokee is one of Jeep's most popular models selling more than 200,000 units in 2020.

Suzan Shown Harjo, long an activist fighting against cultural misappropriation and offensive use of American Indian imagery, is not buying the "honor" argument.  "Of course it's not an honor" states Harjo, "That’s the assumption that was made by so many people about our land, water, gold, silver, copper — name a mineral. Now it’s about our imagery, our names and our cultural icons . . . When does this thievery stop?"  

The Cherokee Nation describes itself as a sovereign tribal government. "Upon settling in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) after the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee people established a new government in what is now the city of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. A constitution was adopted on September 6, 1839, 68 years prior to Oklahoma’s statehood.  Today, the Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the United States with more than 380,000 tribal citizens worldwide. More than 141,000 Cherokee Nation citizens reside within the tribe’s reservation boundaries in northeastern Oklahoma. . . . The Cherokee Nation is committed to protecting our inherent sovereignty, preserving and promoting Cherokee culture, language and values, and improving the quality of life for the next seven generations of Cherokee Nation citizens."

Whether Jeep drops the moniker will likely depend on whether the same kind of financial pressure is brought against Jeep and Stellantis similar to what was brought to bear on Daniel Snyder and the Washington Football Team and corporate entities like Aunt Jemima, Land-O-Lakes and Uncle Ben's.  Each of these entities have been persuaded to change/drop racist depictions and monikers because of the economic pressure of threatened boycotts and sponsorship withdrawals, particularly in light of the 2020 summer of protests following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

hat tip: Savannah Johnston, Arkansas Little Rock Bowen School of Law, 3L

images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Sydney South West Zone Little Athletics Championships showed the best the area has to offer in junior competition over the weekend.

Step aside Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, the world could potentially have a new martial arts movie star and he is from the north shore.

A 92-year-old war widow who devotes her days to serving others has received a generous gift from local business owners who arranged to have her house repainted and she gave them a hand.

THE Penrith Panthers will chase a third consecutive win as they take on the New Zealand Warriors this Saturday.

Republican is inaugurating a new era in US politics and perhaps for the world as a whole

When the Soviets called their enemies “fascists,” they turned the word into a meaningless insult. Putinist Russia has preserved the habit: a “fascist” is anyone who opposes the wishes of a Russian dictator. So Ukrainians defending their country from Russian invaders are “fascists.” This is a trick that Trump has copied. He, like Vladimir Putin, refers to his enemies as “fascists,” with no ideological significance at all. It is simply a term of opprobrium. Putin and Trump are both, in fact, fascists. And their use of the word, though meant to confuse, reminds us of one of fascism’s essential characteristics. A fascist is unconcerned with the connection between words and meanings. He does not serve the language; the language serves him. When a fascist calls a liberal a “fascist,” the term begins to work in a different way, as the servant of a particular person, rather than as a bearer of meaning

Campaign leadership installed when Joe Biden was running is facing fierce internal criticism. “I’m amazed that we even got close,” said one official close to the team.

couldn’t happen to a more deserving company

Shavo Odadjian currently has some time away from his regular job of laying down monster bass riffs for the multi-platinum selling rock band System of a Down

The California State Assembly’s select committee on happiness releases a new report. What does it mean to study happiness and how it interacts with public policy? Finally, a Sacramento cafe and chocolatier making treats with Latin cacao.

Breaking down California’s tough-on-crime measure Prop 36. Also, an update on the 2022 voter-approved Sacramento Children's Fund: Measure L. Finally, the parking lot saga at Trader Joe’s.

Pot brings lots of tax money into states like Illinois, but its societal impact continues to be examined at the state and federal levels.

Armor For Sleep are excited to announce the band's upcoming tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of its second studio album

By Fran Kritz, NPR

The ancient scourge of tuberculosis for years was the deadliest infectious disease. Then SARS-CoV-2 came along and grabbed the notorious title of #1 killer: In 2020, COVID-19 was responsible for 3.5 million deaths worldwide vs 1.5 million for TB.The 2024 Global Tuberculosis Report, published last week by the World Health Organization, puts TB back in the top slot with 1.25 million deaths in 2023 compared to 320,000 COVID-19 deaths. There's also been an increase of hundreds of thousands of new TB cases in 2023 compared to the year prior.

The 1.25 million TB deaths in 2023 is down from 2022’s number of 1.32 million (which that year was second to the COVID toll). But it's still indefensibly high, say public health leaders.

“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, in a statement issued on October 29.

According to the report, approximately 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2023 — the highest number since WHO began global TB monitoring in 1995 and a “notable increase” from 7.5 million people newly diagnosed in 2022.

TB sleuths are trying to figure out the reasons behind the increase. Anand Date, global TB branch chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says population growth may account for the increase in cases last year -- and that it may take until the 2024 to find out if that is so or if the leap in 2023 reflects an undercount of annual TB totals during the pandemic.

“Disruptions to TB programs during the height of the pandemic led to more people going undiagnosed and untreated for TB. [And] guidance to shelter in place may have also limited the spread of TB, says Yogan Pillay, who heads efforts to improve TB program delivery at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which is a funder of NPR and this blog).

COVID-19 did trigger a new setback in the effort to control TB. But most of the reasons the infection persists are frustratingly well-known, says Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership. There's too little money for research, treatment. and patient care needs. And there's stigma that can keep the most common victims of TB, impoverished people including migrants and sex workers, from seeking help or being offered treatment.

In addition, health conditions like malnutrition, diabetes and smoking that can exacerbate TB and keep medications from being fully effective, says Luke Davis, a TB and HIV specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. “TB is unusual,” says Davis, in that most people who are exposed to the bacteria won’t progress to infectious TB. Only about 10% do, and they are usually among the world’s poorest people often with poor health to begin with, which exacerbates their condition.”

So what's the solution?

And that brings us to the Tedros point. The world knows how to vanquish TB — but is not doing a good job.

Money reigns as perhaps the biggest obstacle to conquering tuberculosis. A spokesperson for WHO tells NPR: “Compared with global funding targets for TB set at the 2023 U.N. high-level meeting on TB, there are large funding shortfalls for TB research as well as prevention, detection and treatment services. To close these gaps, more funding is needed from both domestic sources in the countries most impacted by TB and from international donors.”

Global funding for TB prevention and care decreased in 2023 from $6 billion in the three previous years to $5.7 billion and remains far below the yearly target of $22 billion, according to WHO.

What would more money bring? WHO cites expanded rapid diagnostic testing as critical. Then treatment can start sooner. And people wouldn’t have to travel long distances to a clinic then wait for days for the results.

Increased funding would also help reimburse families for lost wages and food and travel expenses incurred as they go for treatment. Those costs keep some patients and their families from seeking care.

The WHO report and other investigations also say that countries burdened by TB also have to step up and spend more money on prevention, diagnosis and treatment. A report by MSF/Doctors Without Borders published last month, for example, found that, only 5 out of 14 countries have adapted their guidelines — based on WHO recommendations -- to initiate TB treatment in children when symptoms strongly indicate TB disease, even if bacteriological tests are negative.

And increased funding would speed up the pace of research says the CDC’s Date. Funding for TB research has stagnated at around $1 billion per year, constraining progress, according to WHO. The target at the U.N. meeting: $5 billion per year by 2027. “The world also has the most promising R&D pipeline of new TB tools in decades,” says Pillay. “What’s needed now is greater investment to deliver on the promise of that pipeline and ensure patients and those at risk of TB have affordable and equitable access to these tools when they are available.”

Vaccines in the works

Pillay says there are more than a dozen TB vaccine candidates in clinical trials, including one whose late stage (stage 3) clinical trial is sponsored by the Gates Medical Research Institute. The trial began recruiting patients last March. That vaccine candidate is called M72/AS01E and if proven effective would be the first new TB vaccine in 100 years. The lone TB vaccine available now is not predictably effective in adults, and can cause a false positive result on TB skin tests.

But even an effective vaccine won’t do that much good if there aren’t funds to purchase it for countries impacted by TB. Janeen Madan Keller, deputy director of the Global Health Policy Program at the Center for Global Development, based in Washington, D.C., says that while Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, pays for [a variety of] vaccines in some of the poorest countries such as Afghanistan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some countries with high rates of TB are middle income countries, like Indonesia, and no longer eligible for support. Ahead of a TB vaccine’s approval, says Keller, there needs to be a better match of policy and funding.

“Often it seems that when we find a way to help vanquish TB,” says Lucica Ditiu, “we also find another barrier.”

Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C., and a regular contributor to NPR. She also reports for the Washington Post and Verywell Health. Find her on X: @fkritz

By Laura Fitzgerald

Updated Nov. 8, 4:30 p.m.

Polls are closed in California. Elections officials are beginning to process and count millions of mail-in ballots from California’s General Election.

The Secretary of State’s Office website shows an estimated 10,728,985 ballots had been counted by Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Every registered California voter was sent a mail-in ballot. The process offers greater convenience for voters, but also delays results because election staff must spend more time verifying signatures and handling late-arriving ballots.

Leading up to the election, statewide ballot returns were slightly lower compared to the 2020 General Election. On Monday, roughly 42% of ballots had been returned; in 2020, that number was closer to 49%, according to election firm Political Data, Inc.

County election officials have until Dec. 5 to process and count ballots. The Secretary of State will certify the results of the election on Dec. 13.

This page will be updated as results come in. See full California election results here. 

Presidential race

Vice President Kamala Harris won California’s 54 electoral college votes, according to a call by the Associated Press. (California’s electoral college lost one member after the 2020 census.) Harris’s projected win was called immediately after polls closed, far from a surprise in California. 

The presidential race was called for Donald Trump by the Associated Press early Wednesday morning.

U.S. Senate

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff has won the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat held for decades by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, according to a call made by the Associated Press shortly after polls closed. He had 57.6% of the preliminary results on Friday afternoon. 

Republican challenger (and former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star) Steve Garvey had 42.4% of early results Friday afternoon.

U.S. Senate (special election)

A special election to fill the remainder of Feinstein’s senate term also appeared on the ballot this election. The seat is currently held by Sen. Laphonza Butler, who was appointed as a caretaker by Governor Gavin Newsom shortly after Feinstein’s death. 

Schiff was also announced as the winner of this race, per the Associated Press.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in California, fields questions after voting in the state's primary election, March 5, 2024, in Burbank, Calif.AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File

U.S. House of Representatives

District 3: 

Republican incumbent Rep. Kevin Kiley won the race Congressional District 3, according to a race call by the Associated Press. He led with 57.2% of the vote on Friday afternoon.

Democratic challenger Jessica Morse followed with 42.8% of early results Friday afternoon. Morse previously ran against Rep. Tom McClintock in 2018.

Morse conceded in a message to supporters posted on social media on Friday.

"Although we didn't have the outcome we wanted in this race, I am proud to have stood at a critical juncture in history with you," she said. "We sounded the alarm, mobilized neighbors and awoke civic engagement in our community. I know it feels like a red tsunami has come to wipe out our freedoms. But our work together over the previous year, knocking doors, making calls, writing postcards, has communicated directly to our community and helped reinforce the foundations of our democracy." 

District 6:

Democratic incumbent Ami Bera won the race for Congressional District 6, according to a race call from the Associated Press. He had 57.3% of early results on Friday. Bera, who was first elected in 2012, has served on the Science, Space and Technology and Foreign Affairs committees, among others, during his time in Congress.

Republican realtor and financial investigator Chris Bish followed with 42.7% of early results Friday.

District 7: 

Democratic incumbent Doris Matsui won her 11th two-year term in the House, according to a call by the Associated Press. Matusi, who was elected in 2005, had 65.4% of early results Friday afternoon.

Republican challenger Tom Silva followed with 34.6%. Silva served as a member of the armed forces for 33 years and on the school board in his hometown of Galt.

California’s 7th Congressional District includes central and south Sacramento neighborhoods including Downtown, Midtown, Arden-Arcade, Lemon Hill and Florin along with the cities of West Sacramento and Elk Grove.

Congresswoman Doris Matsui talks with attendees of the ground breaking for the Hanami Line, a cherry blossom park being built along the Sacramento River, Thursday, June 29, 2023.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio

California state Assembly

District 6:

Early results show Democrat Maggie Krell leading with 65.6% in the race to replace Assembly member Kevin McCarty, who is running for Sacramento mayor. Krell currently serves as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice, and has also been a lawyer for Planned Parenthood.

Republican trade advocate Nikki Ellis follows with 34.4% of early results Friday afternoon.

The 6th Assembly District spans from Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood to Natomas, including downtown and Midtown, East Sacramento, and parts of Arden-Arcade. 

District 7:

Early results show Republican incumbent Josh Hoover is leading with 53.6% in the race for the 7th Assembly District, a region that includes much of northeastern Sacramento County, including Fair Oaks, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Citrus Heights and North Highlands. It also includes portions of Rosemont and Carmichael.

Democratic challenger Porsche Middleton follows with 46.4% of early results Friday afternoon.

District 10:

Democratic incumbent Stephanie Nguyen has 66.1% of the early results in the race to represent California’s 10th Assembly District. Nguyen was first elected to the role in 2022 and previously served on Elk Grove City Council. 

Retired engineer Vinaya Singh follows with 33.9% of early results Friday afternoon.

The 10th Assembly District spans much of southern Sacramento County.

By Claire Morgan

Updated Nov. 8, 4:15 p.m.

Sacramento County results arrived in three separate waves on election night, with the first released shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., another around 10:15 p.m. then finally again around midnight. 

The county will release another batch of results later this week and will continue to issue reports every Friday and Tuesday until all the ballots are counted.

As of Friday at 4:10 p.m., county data estimated roughly 411,809 ballots had been counted.

See full California primary election results here.

Sacramento mayor

Early results show Assembly member Kevin McCarty holds a lead with 54% of the 113,724 ballots counted so far. Epidemiologist Dr. Flojaune Cofer follows with 45%.

McCarty told supporters he was feeling grateful during an Election Night watch party in a restaurant Downtown.

"[I'm] just completely appreciative of where we're at, the campaign we ran, talking to a lot of people, laying out our vision for Sacramento," he said. "Thanking everybody that helped us on this campaign: our volunteers, our endorsers, our supporters, our contributors."

Cofer also expressed gratitude during her own Election Night watch party at pub Downtown. She says homelessness was a top issue among voters she spoke to throughout her campaign.

"They were excited that we had a plan, that we were talking about not needing more money but needing to use the money that we had and make sure that we are coordinating services across our different agencies, that we have clear goals and outcomes," she said.

Sacramento City Council District 2

Early results show Former state Assembly member Roger Dickinson is in the lead with 61% of the 7,739 ballots counted so far. Del Paso Heights native Stephen Walton follows with 38% of the vote.

District 2 includes Del Paso Heights, Hagginwood and Woodlake. 

Council member Shoun Thao has represented District 2 since April, after he was appointed to temporarily fill the seat until the winner of this election takes office. Thao is serving the remainder of former Council member Sean Loloee’s term. Loloee resigned in January after pleading not guilty to a 25-count federal indictment related to his Viva Supermarket grocery store businesses. 

Local ballot measures

Measure D: 

Early results show out of 80,168 ballots counted, 71% were for and 28% were against Sacramento City Unified School District’s request to issue $543 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure D would be used to upgrade facilities at Earl Warren Elementary School, Elder Creek Elementary School and Hiram Johnson High School, among other projects. 

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure E: 

Early results show out of 112,104 ballots counted, 72% were for and 27% were against renewing and combining two existing library parcel taxes into a single tax with no expiration date. If passed, Measure E would generate approximately $9.6 million yearly for Sacramento County library services.

The measure requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

Measure G: 

Early results show out of 27,897 ballots counted, 61% were against and 38% were for imposing an additional 1-cent sales tax on items sold in Folsom. Funds raised through Measure G would be spent on first responder services, public infrastructure and economic development.

The measure requires a simple majority to pass. 

Measure H: 

Early results show out of 7,483 ballots counted, 54% were for and 45% were against Galt Joint Union Elementary School District’s request to issue $27 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure H would go towards upgrading infrastructure at Marengo Ranch Elementary School, Lake Canyon Elementary School and River Oaks Elementary School, among others.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure J: 

Early results show out of 714 ballots counted, 51% were for and 48% were against Elverta Joint Elementary School District’s request to issue $4.3 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure J would be used to upgrade infrastructure across its three schools.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure K:

Early results show out of 9,520 ballots counted, 56% were against and 43% were for San Joaquin Delta Community College District’s request to issue $598 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure K would go towards facilities improvements like lab upgrades, asbestos removal and new classroom construction.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure L: 

Early results show out of 11,270 ballots counted, 61% were for and 38% were against Orangevale Recreation and Park District’s request to issue $24 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure L would go towards making security improvements, upgrading playgrounds and renovating the district’s 60-year-old Youth Center, among other projects.

The measure requires two-thirds approval to pass.

Measure M: 

Early results show out of 1,588 ballots counted, 50% were against and 49% were for Arcohe Union School District’s request to issue $5.8 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure M would be used to upgrade school safety, repair aging facilities, expand classrooms and build a joint-use community center.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure N: 

Early results show out of 84,125 ballots counted, 58% were for and 41% were against Elk Grove Unified School District’s request to issue $542 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure N would go toward renovating, upgrading and rehabilitating school facilities, among other projects. 

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure O: 

Early results show out of 177,787 ballots counted, 68% were for and 31% were against Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department’s request to issue $415 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure O would go toward upgrading facilities and vehicles and completing a new training facility.

The measure needs two-thirds of the vote to pass, unless Proposition 5 is approved, which would lower the threshold to 55%.

Measure P: 

Early results show out of 101,115 ballots counted, 59% were for and 40% were against San Juan Unified School District’s request to issue $950 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure P would go towards building new school facilities, upgrading classrooms and improve the safety of drinking water on campuses.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure Q: 

Early results show out of 6,248 ballots counted, 72% were for and 27% were against Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Parks District’s request to issue $24 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure Q would go toward upgrading restrooms, adding lighting and improving accessibility at parks, among other projects.

Measure R: 

Early results show out of 11,809 ballots counted, 65% were for and 34% were against Folsom-Cordova Unified School District’s request to issue $144 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure R would go towards improvements at elementary schools across the district.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure S:

Early results show out of 11,733 ballots counted, 64% were for and 35% were against Folsom-Cordova Unified District’s request to issue $144 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure R would go towards improvements at middle and high schools across the district.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

By Claire Morgan

Dear Eric: I am newly in love and engaged. My fiancé and I are both in our early 70s. Quite a few of my friends (not my close friends but others) have responded to the news with: how cute! Somehow the fact that we have fallen in love and plan to marry is "cute."

Here's how the coming second term of President-elect Donald Trump could impact Colorado's immigrants, public lands, abortion access and hosting of the U.S. Space Command headquarters.

Gardeners care more about their zinnias and tomatoes than they do about fashionable overalls or clogs.

Designers talk about what they're seeing on the streets, and why sustainable fashion is at the forefront

It's no secret that Spotify pays total garbage when it comes to royalties. Apple Music certainly does better by artists, but still – both combined aren't putting a roof over […]

Pretty valid reasons, honestly.

It may not feel like it when the worst stomach flu of your life has you in its grip, but often, the best thing to do when you have E. coli is to rest and keep drinking beverages with electrolytes.

Steph Curry and Kevin Durant both didn't include Nikola Jokic among their candidates for the next face of the NBA after their generation. But Jokic, even after winning a championship heightened his exposure, is happy to just be the class clown anyway.

One person was killed and another was injured in a crash on Colorado 93 in Jefferson County near Arvada on Wednesday afternoon.

Rocky Flats Stewardship Council met regularly to monitor testing data at former nuke weapons site.

Films include the Boulder-shot "Elevation," starring Anthony Mackie, and "The Order," based on a book by Denver's Kevin Flynn

Buena Vista used to empty out from about November through May, but now locals and some tourists are embracing the off-season.

What's on your essential Denver eats list? Here are our 30 picks.

"For now, let’s celebrate the end of the most vexing, mean-spirited and household-dividing presidential election in modern times, as it heaves itself across the finish line and crumples in a lousy heap."

"With the re-election of Trump I’m convinced that our generation’s time – I’m in my 80s -- has passed. The values I admire, the qualities of character I respect, seem to be relegated to some kind of antique standards shop. We’re decidedly outta style." -- Harry Puncec, Lakewood